Lost Porter County: Crisman Cemetery

Several burial grounds in Porter County were abandoned early in the county's history. Graves in these cemeteries were either disinterred and placed elsewhere or the burials and their markers were simply obliterated over time if not removed from the site. In some cases, such as the Clifford Cemetery west of Valparaiso, burials were both disinterred and obliterated.

One early county burial ground that no longer exists is Crisman Cemetery located in Portage Township. Fortunately, enough fragmented pieces of evidence exist to trace what factors may have led to the abandonment of this burial ground and to identify its most probable location.

With respect to burial information in Porter County, the Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society's cemetery indices provide a wealth of information. The Society's index of Portage Township cemeteries, published in 1995, includes this statement concerning Crisman Cemetery:

Benjamin & Elizabeth (Baughman) Crisman arrived in Porter Co. in 1850. Their family consisted of Solomon, Isaac, Addison, Oliver, Henry, Milton, Haney, Wesley, Eliza, Jane. While excavating for a service station at the SE corner of US 20 in section 1, stones were found. One stone had I. & J. Crisman and another had Wilbur - Martha children of I & J Crisman. Isaac Crisman was born June 3, 1839 and married Jane White on December 12, 1870.

The genealogical society's information was probably gleaned from the following article published in the July 11, 1962, issue of The Vidette-Messenger:

Grave Question
By ROLLIE BERNHART
PORTAGE -- Descendants of Portage pioneers, Isaac and Jane Crisman, are currently mulling over a monumental question involving recently unearthed family gravestones.

The three stones -- a family monument and two headstones – were found by workmen at the southeast corner of U.S. 20 and Crisman road during excavations for a new filling station.

Big question to descendants Mrs. Celia (Crisman) Nealon and her sister, Mrs. Max Wheat, was the locale of the family cemetery.

Both Portage women are of the opinion that the family plot was located north of the spot where the stone were found, in an area north of the former Soule restaurant.

Erected By Pioneers
They feel it is impossible to believe that heavily travelled U.S. 20 could now be running through and desecrating the Crisman family graveyard. "If so," they asked, "how was the law evaded involving desecration of graveyards?"

The monument apparently was erected by pioneers Isaac and Jane Crisman, grandparents of Mrs. Nealon and Mrs. Wheat, in memory of two children, Wilbur and Marta, who died in 1876 of scarlet fever at ages of five and three.

Both the monument and headstones are of unpolished marble and in excellent state of preservation. The headstones bore the names of Wilbur and Marta on top.

Mrs. Nealon, who resides north of the highway on Crisman road, said she and her husband found other tombstone markers of the two children when they acquired their present property 20 years ago. She belives [sic] there was a township graveyard extending north or south of U.S. 20 along Crisman road, which may have become neglected and overgrown with weeds and brush prior to construction of the highway in the middle 1920's.

She said she intends to do some research and checking of records at the courthouse in Valparaiso.

Meanwhile, excavators at the filling station site may turn up more evidence of the possible existence of a graveyard.

Isaac Crisman, son of Ben Crisman, who migrated to the Portage area, was reported to have been the township's first trustee and its first postmaster.

Isaac and Jane resided at 355 Crisman road, south of U.S. 20, now occupied by Glenn Hankinson.

About one week after this story was published, the following column appeared in the July 19 issue of The Vidette-Messenger:

Explanation Offered Crisman Grave Mystery
By ROLLIE BERNHART
PORTAGE -- Any possibilities of the existence of the pioneer Crisman family cemetery at the southeast corner of U. S. 20 and Crisman road in Portage, were dissipated in a report from Mrs. Celia (Crisman) Nealon today.

The question of the family cemetery being located at the intersection arose after workmen two weeks ago unearthed three family gravestones during excavation for filling station at the corner.

Mrs. Maude Blair, 500 Old Porter road, who knows her early Portage history well, aided Mrs. Nealon and her sister, Mrs. Max Wheat, in clearing up the mystery Wednesday.

Mrs. Blair took Mrs. Nealon to a spot north of U. S. 20. directly south of the present Portage Township School administration building and "positively" identified the section where the township cemetery was located, Mrs. Nealon stated.

It is Mrs. Blair's opinion that members of the pioneer Crisman family are still interred there, even though there are no visible stones or markers. The cemetery is located on a high bank overgrown with trees and thick brush.

The mystery of how the three recently unearthed stones, in Wilbur and Marta, son and daughter of I. and J. Crisman, became buried at Crisman road and U. S. 20, still remains unsolved, Mrs. Nealon said today.

Examination of the factual elements mentioned in these companion articles shows that Celia (Crisman) Nealon believed that the Crisman Cemetery was a township cemetery. It is important to note that the term "township cemetery" has a long established legal meaning in Indiana; today, Indiana Code Title 23, Article 14, Chapter 68 provides the legal authority for the care of cemeteries by township trustees.

The establishment of township cemeteries were rather common during the early history of Indiana. Typically, the family of one of the first individuals to die in a township would bury their family member on or very near the grounds of their homestead. As other individuals passed away in the surrounding area, they would also be interred at this newly established burial ground.

News item and photographs concerning unearthed
tombstones from the Crisman family cemetery.

Source: The Vidette-Messenger, July 11, 1962.

The family owning the burial ground property would very often deed it to the township or county to ensure its perpetual maintenance through the expenditure of township funds. If Crisman Cemetery was an official township cemetery, then the probability that the cemetery land was deeded to Portage Township would be high. We can assume, however, that Crisman Cemetery was never a township cemetery since no recorded deed exists; Delia Nealon's statement about Crisman Cemetery being a township cemetery was purely speculative and can be easily disproven by deed records.

Next, it was thought by Nealon, Wheat, and Blair that the Crisman Cemetery was situated north of U.S. Route 20 along the east side Crisman Road and not at the southeast corner of the intersection of U.S. Route 20 and Crisman Road. Celia Nealon remarked that when she and her husband purchased their property north of U.S. Route 20 around 1942 that they had found on it "other tombstone markers of the two children." Similarly, Maude Blair "'positively' identified" the location of the burial ground, which was north of U.S. Route 20 "on a high bank overgrown with trees and thick brush." A 1948 plat map shows that the location identified by Blair was adjacent to property co-owned at that time by Nealon and Wheat.

The second article concludes with the sentence: "The mystery of how the three recently unearthed stones, in Wilbur and Marta, son and daughter of I. and J. Crisman, became buried at [the southeast intersection of] Crisman road and U. S. 20, still remains unsolved...."

Perhaps the location of the excavated tombstones is not a mystery. It is possible that the tombstones found their way to their discovered location during the construction of U.S. Route 20 in 1931. This particular area is relatively low and somewhat marshy ground and required the installation of a properly engineered drainage system and elevated road bed when U.S. Route 20 was built. The "high bank" where the burial ground was believed to have been situated would have offered a readily available and low cost opportunity for road builders to obtain fill when establishing the road's grade. Thus, heavy earthmoving equipment may have transferred soil, along with the tombstones, from the high bank southward to the location where excavation was taking place in 1962.

A short news item in the July 30, 1962, issue of The Vidette-Messenger somewhat confirms the soil displacement theory mentioning that Axel Tranberg of Portage "is supposed to have seen the edges of coffins as the highway department dug down for U.S. 20 near the Crisman Road intersection. Oldtimers in the area contend the cemetery was located north of the highway and east of Crisman Road."

Published historical information suggests that maybe this obliterated burial ground should not be referred to as Crisman Cemetery, but rather it should be called the Hunter Cemetery or Field Cemetery. The following short news item appeared in the October 19, 1882, issue of the Porter County Vidette published in Valparaiso:

Joy's Run.
Fields [sic; Field], who owns the Geo. Hunter farm, refuses to allow any more graves to be dug in the grave yard on his farm and gives notice to have those removed already there. As there is no deed for the lot, his wish will probably he [sic; be] complied with.

News item stating that Oscar Field refuses any additional burials on his farm.

Source: Porter County Vidette, October 19, 1882.

Over the next following four weeks in the October 26 and November 2, 9, and 16, 1882, issues of the Porter County Vidette, a formal public notice was published by Oscar Field demanding that bodies be removed from his property.

Notice published by Oscar Field demanding the vacation of
bodies in the burying ground located on his property.

Source: Porter County Vidette, October 26, 1882.

Approximately six years prior to the publication of the Oscar Field's demand for the removal of bodies from his property, a news item appeared in the Porter County Vidette's December 7, 1876, issue announcing the death of one of Ike Crisman's children due to scarlet fever and another being at the "point of death;" these two children would have been Wilbur and Martha Crisman whose tombstones were shown in a photograph with the July 11, 1962, article published by The Vidette-Messenger.

Death notice for child of Ike Crisman.

Source: Porter County Vidette, December 7, 1876.

Collectively, factual information strongly suggests that the Crisman Cemetery was located in the north one-half of the southeast quarter of Section 1; the 1876 plat map of Portage Township indicates that this land was owned by George W. Hunter.

Portion of Portage Township plat map showing location
of George W. Hunter's property in Section 1.

Source: Hardesty's 1876 Illustrated Historical Atlas of Porter County, Indiana, p. 67.

Photograph of George Wesley Hunter.

Source: Dianne Goshorn, Ancestry.com.

Interestingly, despite Oscar Field's notice to have human remains vacated from his property in 1882, the death notice for Elizabeth Crisman published on December 20, 1888, in The Tribune (Chesterton) states that Elizabeth was "buried in the Oscar Field cemetery." Thus, this burial ground was still in use as late as December 1888. Field had died in February of 1888, so area residents continued to use his property for burials while his estate was proceeding through probate.

Death notice for Elizabeth Crisman.

Source: The Tribune, December 20, 1888.

That said, Elizabeth Crisman may have been rightfully buried, in a legal sense, at the "Oscar Field cemetery" as a direct result of an 1883 court case whereby Benjamin Crisman, Isaac Crisman, and Joseph White, plaintiffs, challenged Oscar Field and Jane Field, defendants, from denying burials on the Field property. The decision in this case was in favor of the plaintiffs with a decree of a perpetual injunction. Given the decision of this case, the burial ground should legally exist to the present day, though not under deed to Portage Township.

Perpetual injunction against Oscar and Jane Field, most
likely in reference to burials on their property.

Source: Porter County Vidette, June 28, 1883.

So who was Oscar Field who became the owner of George W. Hunter's land and, as a result, ended up having a burial ground appurtenant to his property? Oscar was born on September 17, 1835, in Seneca, Lenawee County, Michigan. It should be noted that other contemporary Oscar Field biographies place his nativity at Adrian, Lenawee County, Michigan, and Saratoga, Saratoga County, New York. Oscar was a son of Reuben G. and Abigail (Strong) Field.

Soon after his birth Oscar moved with his parents to Troy, Rensselaer County, New York, where his mother would pass away when he was a year old. At the age of twelve, Oscar's father died and he would soon travel to Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, with a total of three cents in his possession upon arrival. Oscar reportedly met a farmer in a tavern a few miles west of Milwaukee and, by chance, learned he was a friend of his now-deceased father, Reuben. The farmer offered Field a job at his farm situated thirty miles west of Milwaukee, which Oscar accepted, and there he became a farm hand for several years.

Field's obituary mentions that when still a boy he went to the plains and entered the service of the Overland Stage Company where he would eventually rise to be a superintendent of a division of that firm. He moved to Chicago in 1860 where he purchased Ed Price's livery business. In 1865, Oscar married Mrs. Jennie Stokes, the widow of Charles Stokes. Field's livery business would be completely destroyed by the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 and he would rebuild his business only to have it destroyed by another fire in 1874. Once again, he would resurrect his business, this time at 165-166 Michigan Avenue, two blocks south of the Chicago River in today's downtown core.

An 1886 published biography of Field remarks that:

For many years he has been one of the largest shippers of racers and fancy stock in the country, enjoying the patronage of many of the largest horse-owners.... Mr. Field is the owner of the well-known stock-farm at Crissman, thirty-two miles from the city. It contains five hundred and fifty acres, and is supplied with large barns for stock with box-stalls, etc., sheds, water, and shade.

It is believed that Field purchased the Hunter property in the fall of 1882, which he would name Pleasant View Farm. The following news item appears in the January 11, 1883, issue of the Porter County Vidette and described Oscar Field's real estate investment in Portage Township:

There is located near Crissman Station one of the largest stock farms in this part of the country. Mr. Oscar Field, of Chicago, a large dealer in and breeder of stock, has purchased about 40 acres of land near the above place and laying out considerable money in making it second to none in the country. He has already 50 head of stock on hand, among which are six head of horses valued at $12,000.

Not only was Field purchasing real estate, he was also improving it. It is known from a short news item appearing in the October 1, 1884, issue of Chesterton's newspaper, The Tribune, that Field had been investing in repairs and remodeling on his Pleasant View Farms property:

CRISMAN ITEMS.
Mr. Oscar Fields  [sic], owner of "Pleasant View Farms," has been for several years doing a vast amount of repairing on his farm. At the present writing he is remodling [sic] his dwelling house, which when finished, will look very neat and sensible and add greatly to the value of the farm.

Advertisement for assorted goods and stock at Oscar Field's
Pleasant View Farm located in Portage Township.

Source: Porter County Vidette, November 16, 1882.

Field had added considerably to his forty acre parcel purchased from Hunter in the fall of 1882. By 1886 his real estate holdings near Crisman consisted of five hundred and fifty acres. The January 8, 1885, issue of The Tribune mentions that Field was preparing to construct "a mammoth barn on his farm" with a footprint of 40 feet by 250 feet, allegedly making it the largest barn in Indiana at that time. Field also sold sand from Crisman, advertising in The Chicago Tribune; he used the Michigan Central Railroad as the mode of shipment of sand from Crisman to Chicago markets.

Arthur J. Bowser, longtime publisher of the Chesterton Tribune, mentions in the December 24, 1884, issue of his newspaper a visit that Field had at Bowser's newspaper office. Bowser provides a description of Field as follows:

Mr. Oscar Field, of Pleasant View Farm, Crissman, called at our sanctum last Friday [December 19], and when we say that he made us a pleasant call, we will emphasize that remark by adding that he ordered THE TRIBUNE sent to his address for one year, and also left an "ad" which, the way, we call your attention to. In Mr. Field, we found one of those great big-hearted, jovial democrats who are always looking on the bright side of life, eccentric in some things maybe but at the same time full of enthusiasm for the "forlorn hope."

Mr. Field was apparently benevolent and kind. The January 1, 1885, issue of The Tribune states in separate news items that:

On the 28th of the present month, Oscar Field, of the Pleasant View Farm also owner of several large livery-barns in Chicago, will give the orphans of the Orphan's Home, of that city a grand sleigh-ride free of cost. Mr. Fields does this every year, and there is not an orphan in the Orphan's Home but what calls him "uncle."

Last week's issue of THE TRIBUNE gave our fellow-townsman, Oscar Field, owner of the Pleasant View Farm, a generous puff. It is not our intention to write the gentleman's biography, which undoubtedly would be very interesting as well as instructive reading. Mr. Field's life has been a very active as well as eventful one. The fire-fiend has twice robbed him of all his wealth. He lost every dollar in the Chicago fire of '71, yet undaunted he strove again adversity and to-day he is the possessor of thousands, which he distributes with lavish hand on his Porter County home. Besides he furnishes scores of men with employment, who are well paid and the proceeds go toward building and happy homes. The needy man, if honest, never was dismissed without receiving pecuniary aid, and in many instances, profitable employment. A visit to his farm will convince the most skeptical sour milk and codfish aristocrat in Porter County that a man of great wealth can be a prince, and yet be respected by all who known him. Mr. Field is fully aware of the fact that there are millions of people on God's green earth besides himself, who are entitled to a chance of becoming independent, consequently he considers it his duty to make business lively so far as lays in his power. To make a long story short, such men make our world a fit place to live in -- they are the levers that move every branch of industry -- their presence in a community causes business to boom, and elects democratic presidents. In this instance the heart is the power that moves the brain.

At some point Oscar must have moved to reside in Porter County's Portage Township since he would be appointed to serve as the postmaster of the small community of Crisman beginning on May 21, 1886. He served as postmaster until his death although he had moved back to Chicago about a year after his appointment to the position.

Oscar Field advertisement for sale of stock and breeding services.

Source: The Tribune, May 20, 1886.

News item mentioning Oscar Field's appointment to serve as postmaster of Crisman.

Source: The Tribune, May 27, 1886.

Less than a year into his term as the postmaster of Crisman, however, a column critical of Field's management of the Crisman  post office appeared in the December 23, 1886, issue of The Tribune. The column states that Field had appointed "a bigoted, narrow-minded republican. By his acts he has brought down the displeasure of the major portion of the patrons of the office, regardless of party and is regarded as a nuisance generally. The Crismanites, in their own language say 'they will not be brow-beaten out of the constitutional right of mailing their letters where they please, by this Mr. Cobb,' and say that his attitude toward them compels them to mail their letters on the train. Great complaint comes from Crisman about this Mr. Cobb, and now Postmaster Field, if you have such a critter in your employ, fire him. Yes, fire him for the good of the cause."

News column critical of Oscar Field's management of the Crisman post office.

Source: The Tribune, December 23, 1886.

Oscar passed away at his Chicago residence located in the Pullman Building on February 12, 1888, and his funeral took place from his home on February 15. He was interred in Chicago's Graceland Cemetery. Oscar had been ill one year prior to his death and he had undergone two surgeries, the second of which reportedly resulted in his death. At his death, Field's estate was estimated to be worth at least $50,000 (or approximately $1.5 million in 2022). Oscar bequeathed his entire estate to his wife, Jennie, and no children are mentioned in his will.

Oscar Field's obituary.

Source: The Chicago Tribune, February 13, 1888.

Notice of Shepard Sargent being appointed Crisman's
postmaster upon the death of Oscar Field.

Source: The Tribune, May 10, 1888.

After Oscar's death, his wife Jennie S. Field would settle up his estate. She disposed all the personal property located on Field's Portage Township real estate, consisting of six parcels of land, at a public sale on September 15, 1888. Remarkably, a short item appearing in the January 31, 1889, issue of The Tribune states that Jennie had been ordered [by the probate court] "to settle estate as insolvent," strongly suggesting that Oscar had accrued debts in excess of his assets at the time of his death. Jennie was leasing Oscar's real estate as pasture land in the spring of 1891, advertising its availability in multiple issues of The Tribune. For over a decade, nothing would be mentioned of in local newspapers about the Field property. A short news item, however, appeared in the March 7, 1902, issue of The Chesterton Tribune stating that "There will be a change in the Oscar Field farm at Crisman this spring. Mr. Spencer will retire, and is succeeded by Mr. Detlow. Judge Johnston, who manages the farm for Mrs. Field in her absence, announces that extensive improvements will be made of the farm this year, to cost about $2,000. This is one of the finest farms in the county, and ideally located for extensive stock raising."

Public sale notice placed by Jennie S. Field for
sale of personal property of Oscar Field at Crisman.

Source: The Tribune, August 16, 1888.

Advertisement placed by Jennie S. Field for pasture land at Crisman.

Source: The Tribune, March 5, 1891.

News item concerning the Oscar Field farm.

Source: The Chesterton Tribune, March 7, 1902.

A total of three burials are known to have been made in Crisman Cemetery. Siblings Martha and Wilbur Crisman were buried in the cemetery in 1876 after succumbing to scarlet fever. Elizabeth (Baughman) Crisman, according to her death notice, was interred in the "Oscar Field cemetery" after dying from typhus fever in 1888. Confusingly, a tombstone for Elizabeth exists in Portage Township's McCool Cemetery, suggesting that Elizabeth may never have been buried at the Crisman Cemetery or that her remains were disinterred from Crisman Cemetery and then reburied at the McCool Cemetery. The parents of Martha and Wilbur Crisman - Isaac Crisman and Jane (White) Crisman - are also buried at McCool Cemetery.

Aerial view showing probable location of Crisman Cemetery.

Source: Google Earth, 2021.

Newspaper photograph showing corner where Crisman Cemetery was likely
located northeast of the intersection of Crisman Road and U.S Route 20.

Source: The Vidette-Messenger, January 28, 1960.

Why did the Crisman Cemetery essentially disappear given a perpetual injunction existed, thereby ordering for the allowance of burials to continue on the Field property? It is assumed that the decree ran with the land, similar to an easement, and not with the owner of the land. Thus, all successors in interest to the Field property would have been subject to the decree allowing burials.

The fact that Crisman Cemetery did not become a township cemetery likely led to its "disappearance." The cemetery probably served only the White and Crisman families. As these families either removed from Porter County or were buried elsewhere within the county, there was nobody to fill the void in maintaining the cemetery. If the cemetery had been deeded to the township, then it would have become the legal duty of the township trustee to maintain the burial ground using property taxes paid by township landowners.

In addition, the cemetery was located on a ridge surrounded by marsh-like land; control of the overgrowth of herbaceous plants, shrubs, and trees would have to be regularly attended to so as to have the cemetery appear as a properly maintained burial ground. As the cemetery became overgrown, it may have become out of sight and, therefore, an out of mind burial ground. The James-Shrock Cemetery, also situated in Portage Township, is an example of cemetery that was once massively overgrown and nearly "lost" until rediscovered when the Indiana Toll Road was being surveyed for construction through the township.

There is one final twist to this physical site. William Albert Briggs, an early twentieth century historian of Porter County, identified the location of the Crisman Cemetery as also being the location of a house used for the Underground Railroad. Dorris et al., citing Briggs as their source, write in 1976 that "For many years before the Civil War numerous slaves escaped from their masters in the South and made their way northward through the Free States.... Porter County had several lines of this means of escape and one stopping place was located about a half mile from the village of Crisman. It was on the north-east corner of Crisman Road and U.S. 20. Here a frame building of four rooms was built in 1857 by a Mr. Smith who used it as a home for himself and his family. The real purpose of the house was to aid the runaway slaves in their break for freedom. Mr. Smith disappeared and no trace of who financed him, where he came from, or where he went have ever been learned. Two main rooms of this house were built over a double cellar and in the floor of each room was a trap door. One or the other was always covered with a rag carpet. Each door led to a separate compartment of the cellar."

Inspection of the 1860 Federal census records for Portage Township reveal only two Smith families, spelled Smithe, residing in the township, that being the household of John and Pheba A. Smithe and their immediate neighbors Dexter and Caroline Smithe. Interestingly, and consistent with Brigg's observation, neither of these two Smithe families are residing in Porter County according to 1870 Federal census records.

Efforts to determine the current location of the three tombstones discovered in the 1962 excavation have been unsuccessful. The author would be interested if you know anything about these tombstones; please contact him at shookgenealogy@gmail.com.

Below is information concerning the three known burials in Crisman Cemetery.

CRISMAN, Elizabeth Baughman
Birth: August 16, 1816, in Carroll County, Ohio
Death: December 15, 1888, in Crisman, Porter County, Indiana
Note: Wife of Benjamin G. Crisman; tombstone for Elizabeth (Baughman) Crisman appears in the McCool Cemetery in Portage Township. The following death notice published on December 20, 1888, in The Tribune (Chesterton) for Elizabeth Crisman:

DIED- On Dec 15, Mrs. Elizabeth Crisman, of Typhus fever. The funeral took place on the 17th inst., and the remains buried in the Oscar Field cemetery. Mrs. Crisman was the wife of Benjamin Crisman and was an old settler of Porter county, having come to the county with her husband in 1850. Her home was at Crisman Station.

CRISMAN, Martha
Birth:
Death: December 1876
Note: Daughter of Isaac and Jane (White) Crisman; given name may have been Mertie.

CRISMAN, Wilbur F.
Birth:
Death: December 1876
Note: Son of Isaac and Jane (White) Crisman; given name may have been spelled as Wilber.

Siblings Burten Allen "Ollie" Crisman and Lucy Mae "Mazie" Crisman, circa 1886.
Two children of Isaac and Jane (White) Crisman that lived to adulthood.

Source: Collection of Steven R. Shook.

Isaac "Ike" Crisman, circa 1890s.
Source: Collection of Steven R. Shook.

Source Material

Books
Andreas, A. T. 1886. History of Chicago from the Earliest Period to the Present Time. Chicago, Illinois: The A. T. Andreas Company. 875 p. [see pp. 363-364]

Baker, J. David. 1976. The Postal History of Indiana. Volume II. Louisville, Kentucky: Leonard H. Hartmann, Philatelic Bibliopole. 1,061 p. [see p. 920]

Dorris, Joyce, Dina Vinzani, Dorothy Dudenski, K. Imogene Jones, and James Milligan. 1976. Weaving the Past into the Future: Bicentennial Handbook of Portage Township. Portage, Indiana: Graphic Communications Center, Portage Township Schools. 24 p. [see p. 4]

Hardesty, A. G. 1876. Illustrated Historical Atlas of Porter County, Indiana. Valparaiso, Indiana: A. G. Hardesty. 90 p. [see p. 67]

Historical Publishing Company. 1886. Origin, Growth, and Usefulness of the Chicago Board of Trade: Its Leading Members, and Representative Business Men in Other Branches of Trade. New Yok, New York. Historical Publishing Company. 421 p. [see p. 376]

Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society. 1995. Portage Township Cemeteries. Valparaiso, Indiana: Northwest Indiana Genealogical Society.

Porter County Circuit Court. 1887. Will Record, Volume C, October 1886 to December 1896. Valparaiso, Indiana: Porter County Circuit Court. pp. 80-86 [Will Record No. 622].

Stacy-Ray Map Publishers. 1948. Stacy-Ray Farm Plat Book of Porter County, Indiana. Kankakee, Illinois: Stacy-Ray Map Publishers. 21 p.

Newspapers (listed by date of publication)
Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; December 7, 1876; Volume 20, Number 49, Page 3, Column 6. Column titled "Joy's Run Items."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; October 19, 1882; Volume 26, Number 42, Page 8, Column 2. Column titled "The County. Joy's Run."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; October 26, 1882; Volume 26, Number 43, Page 5, Column 5. Column titled "Notice To Vacate Burying Ground."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; November 2, 1882; Volume 26, Number 44, Page 5, Column 3. Column titled "Notice To Vacate Burying Ground."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; November 9, 1882; Volume 26, Number 45, Page 5, Column 5. Column titled "Notice To Vacate Burying Ground."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; November 16, 1882; Volume 26, Number 46, Page 4, Column 5. Column titled "Notice. For Sale at Pleasant View Farm."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; November 16, 1882; Volume 26, Number 46, Page 8, Column 6. Column titled "Notice To Vacate Burying Ground."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; November 23, 1882; Volume 26, Number 47, Page 4, Column 5. Column titled "Notice. For Sale at Pleasant View Farm."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; November 23, 1882; Volume 26, Number 47, Page 8, Column 6. Column titled "Notice To Vacate Burying Ground."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; December 21, 1882; Volume 26, Number 51, Page 7, Column 6. Column titled "Notice To Vacate Burying Ground."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; December 28, 1882; Volume 26, Number 52, Page 5, Column 5. Column titled "Notice. For Sale at Pleasant View Farm."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; January 11, 1883; Volume 27, Number 2, Page 5, Column 2.

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; March 1, 1883; Volume 27, Number 9, Page 1, Column 3. Column titled "The County. Joy's Run."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; June 28, 1883; Volume 27, Number 26, Page 1, Column 4. Column titled "Circuit Court."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; October 1, 1884; Volume 1, Number 27, Page 1, Column 3. Column titled "Crisman Items."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; December 24, 1884; Volume 1, Number 39, Page 5, Column 5. Column titled "Chesterton Local Items."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; December 24, 1884; Volume 1, Number 39, Page 8, Column 3. Advertisement for Pleasant View Farm.

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; January 1, 1885; Volume 1, Number 40, Page 8, Columns 1-2. Column titled "Country News As Dished Up by Our Special Correspondents. Crisman."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; January 8, 1885; Volume 1, Number 41, Page 8, Column 1.

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; July 9, 1885; Volume 2, Number 15, Page 1, Column 8.

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; August 20, 1885; Volume 29, Number 34, Page 5, Column 3. Column titled "Monday."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; May 6, 1886; Volume 3, Number 6, Page 1, Column 5.

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; May 20, 1886; Volume 3, Number 8, Page 4, Column 6. Advertisement for "Pleasant View Farm."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; May 27, 1886; Volume 3, Number 9, Page 1, Column 6.

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; December 23, 1886; Volume 3, Number 38, Page 1, Column 3.

The Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Cook County, Indiana; July 31, 1887; Volume 47, Page 13, Column 6. Column titled "Business Chances."

The Chicago Tribune, Chicago, Cook County, Illinois; February 13, 1888; Volume 48, Page 3, Column 2. Column titled "The Obituary Record. Oscar Field."

The Daily Inter Ocean, Chicago, Cook County, Indiana; February 15, 1888; Volume 16, Number 325, Part I, Page 8, Column 2. Column titled "Deaths."

St. Paul Daily Globe, St. Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota; February 15, 1888; Volume 10, Number 46, Page 1 , Column 6. column titled "Oscar Field Dead."

Daily Journal, Evansville, Vanderburgh County, Indiana; February 16, 1888; Page 8, Column 4. Column titled "Telegraphic Brevities."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; March 1, 1888; Volume 4, Number 46, Page 1, Column 7. Column titled "Country News. As Dished Up by Our Correspondents. Crisman Items."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; April 12, 1888; Volume 4, Number 52, Page 4, Column 3.

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; April 26, 1888; Volume 5, Number 2, Page 1, Column 7. Column titled "Crisman Salad."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; May 10, 1888; Volume 5, Number 4, Page 1, Column 7. Column titled "Husks and Nubbins. Items Gathered From a Varied Source By Our Huskers. Crisman."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; August 16, 1888; Volume 5, Number 18, Page 4, Column 2.

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; August 16, 1888; Volume 5, Number 18, Page 4, Column 8. Notice of "Public Sale."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; December 20, 1888; Volume 5, Number 36, Page 1, Column 6. Column titled "Newsy Nuggets. Culled From All Sources."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; January 24, 1889; Volume 5, Number 41, Page 1, Column 5.  Column titled "Court Notes."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; January 31, 1889; Volume 5, Number 42, Page 1, Column 5.  Column titled "Courting."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; March 21, 1889; Volume 5, Number 48, Page 1, Column 8.

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; August 29, 1889; Volume 6, Number 20, Page 1, Column 7. Column titled "Notice."

The Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; March 5, 1891; Volume 7, Number 47, Page 8, Column 3. Advertisement titled "Pasture Land."

The Chesterton Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; March 7, 1902; Volume 18, Number 48, Page 5, Column 3. Column titled "Chesterton Chips."

The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; May 14, 1929; Volume 2, Page 7, Columns 6-8. Photograph column titled "Non-Resident Notice."

The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; January 28, 1960; Volume 33, Number 174, Page 1, Columns 1-3. Photograph column titled "Portage Corner Brings $75,000."

The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; July 11, 1962; Volume 36, Number 6, Page 1, Columns 1-3 and Page 6, Column 6. Column titled "Grave Question," by Rollie Bernhart.

The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; July 11, 1962; Volume 36, Number 6, Page 1, Columns 2-5. Photograph column titled "Monument(al) Question."

The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; July 19, 1962; Volume 36, Number 13, Page 1, Columns 3-4. Column titled "Explanation Offered In Crisman Grave Mystery," by Rollie Bernhart.

The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; July 30, 1962; Volume 36, Number 22, Page 1, Column 1 and Page 6, Columns 4-5. Column titled "Over a Cup of Coffee."

The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; November 3, 1972; Volume 46, Number 106, Page 1, Columns 1-4. Column titled "Last Section of I-94 Opened," by Rollie Bernhart.

© 2022 Steven R. Shook. All Rights Reserved.

Lost Porter County: Hickory Point

Visible on the lower left corner of A. G. Hardesty's 1876 plat map of Porter County's Porter Township is a community labeled Hickory Point. This community's name appears in several early Porter County records and histories. However, similar to Mayville located along the northern banks of the Kankakee River, Lansing in Jackson Township, and Tassinong in Pleasant Township, Hickory Point appears to have slowly faded out of existence as commercial activity shifted elsewhere in the county.

Plat map of the southwest portion of Porter Township
showing the Hickory Point community (Sections 27 and 34).
Source: A. G. Hardesty, 1876.

Geographically, Hickory Point was situated in the southwest quarter of Section 27 and the northwest quarter Section 34 of Porter Township, west of present day Indiana State Road 2. The community extended west into Lake County to about the point of present day Stony Run County Park.

The community was named in reference to a grove of hickory trees in an area that was dominated by prairie. This prairie was originally known as Horseshoe Prairie due to its ∩ shape, but the name was shortened to Horse Prairie. According to one early history of Porter County, during the early years Hickory Point served as "a trading point and social center of some importance."

Timothy H. Ball, in 1904, cites the earliest known mention of Hickory Point, which predates the founding Porter County. Ball, probably the most reliable historian of nineteenth century Northwest Indiana, relates the story concerning the tragic death of David Agnew; he writes:

In the course of years, and in any community, as human life is, there will always be some events of more than ordinary sadness. At least two of such events may fittingly be recorded here. The first is the death by freezing of David Agnew, whose wife was a Bryant [Nancy Bryant], on the night of April 4, 1835. As one of the Bryant family making the settlement at Pleasant Grove [located in Cedar Creek Township, Lake County], it fell to his lot to take an ox team from Morgan prairie in Porter county to the new settlement.

The weather had been mild with some rain, and snow and cold were no longer expected; but on that April day there came "a most terrible snowstorm." Circumstances had separated David Agnew with the ox team from the others of the party, but as the storm became very severe Simeon Bryant stopped at Hickory Point, built a fire, and waited for their coming. They came not as expected, and at about four in the afternoon, Simeon Bryant, thinking that Mr. Agnew had concluded not to come on in that storm, building a large fire of logs for a camping place if he should come, started on foot for the settlement, distant ten miles west. He was "a remarkably strong, robust man," said one of the family, but was thoroughly chilled when at dark he reached the cabin of E. W. Bryant [Elias W. Bryant]. David Agnew was not a very strong or healthy man, and no one thought of his undertaking that perilous trip of ten long miles on such a fearful night. The next morning, when the storm was over, an April fog coming on, as Simeon Bryant, David Bryant, and E. W. Bryant [David, Elias, and Simeon were brothers] went out to look over the land, they saw some object lying in the snow, and E. W. Bryant said, "It looks like a dead man." David Bryant took a closer look and said, "It looks like Agnew." And the body of David Agnew it proved to be, beside which those three stout-hearted men stood aghast. What that night had been to him in suffering and in struggle no one could fully know.

I quote from the Bryant narrative: "Upon looking around they found beaten paths where Agnew had at first run around in a circle to try to keep from perishing, and then, as if strength had failed and he had not been able to do that, he had supported himself with his arms around the trunks of the trees, running around them until there was quite a path worn, and leaving the lint of his coat sticking in the bark. He finally got hold of a pole about seven or eight feet long, and placing one end on the ground and leaning on the other, ran around in a circle until, as it would appear, his strength was entirely exhausted, and he fell across his support, leaving no sign of having made a struggle after."

We can see in this account how heroically Agnew struggled for life; and that he should have perished so near a home and shelter seems doubly pitiable. It was found that he had reached Hickory Point with his oxen and wagon, but instead of trying to camp there with them by the fire, had drawn out the keys from the ox bows, dropped them with the yokes all chained together upon the ground, thrown out a few unbound sheaves of oats from his wagon as food for the oxen, and had started immediately to follow Simeon Bryant across the ten miles of prairie and marsh.

The Bryant narrative states there was an Indian trail passing by Hickory Point and through Pleasant Grove, but that the night was very dark, although the snow-storm was followed by almost incessant lightning. Somehow Agnew made his way across, but perished within reach of help.

Several accounts of this incident have been published. Some suggest that Agnew was buried on the prairie in Porter County, while others state he was buried in Lake County very near Pleasant Grove. The Porter County location is plausible since Lewis Comer, one of the first residents of Morgan Prairie in eastern Porter County, has been noted as officiating Agnew's funeral service.

Yet another source, Clara Vaile Braiden's book concerning the Bryant family genealogy published in 1913, states the David Agnew died on "Apr. 15, 1835, at Pleasant Grove, Ind., and is buried at Westville [Champaign County], Ohio." There are no burial records showing David being buried in Ohio. Additionally, it would have been quite remarkable if his remains were taken back to Ohio given the distance and cost involved in with such transport at that time. Regardless, all accounts are nearly identical concerning to the circumstances surrounding Agnew's death.

William O. Wallace, writing about Hickory Point as "The Stroller" in the September 26, 1958, issue of The Vidette-Messenger, created an alternative story about the naming of this prairie:

Cheaps-o-tucky, living northward on section 34, in 1836-7 was the last Pottawattomie. The others gradually drifted westward following the deported tribes, or went to Michigan where a small remnant remained. Cheaps-o-tucky finally sold out to an incoming settler and walked majestically away in 1846. He left behind one aged horse, on the prairie -- and the area became known as 'horse-on-prairie' until it was condensed to Horse Prairie when E. P. Abbott (sic, Abbot) made the county map from government surveys in 1855.

While "The Stroller" stories are very popular, it is important to note that Wallace intentionally weaved fabricated information with true facts into his columns, similar to historical fiction. This resulted in his columns being more entertaining to the reader and more valuable to the publisher through increased newspaper circulation. Wallace did put his readers on notice that he was including "legend" in his columns. The unfortunate consequence of this type of writing has been that many of the contrived facts published in The Stroller columns have been perpetuated as true.

Though it seems that Wallace had intentions to provide a coherent understanding of Porter County's history, his literary style often created nothing more than nonsense. In this case, there is no evidence that a Native American named Cheaps-o-tucky was residing in Porter County, especially as late as 1846 when all the land in area surrounding Hickory Point had been either deeded through federal land patents or was being "proved up" by settlers for land patent applications. In fact, the name Cheaps-o-tucky only appears in Wallace's column and seems to possess a derogatory undertone. Furthermore, surveyors laying out section corners in the counties of Lake and Porter in 1834 pointedly write in their field notes that they found no Native Americans living in this area at that time; a few, however, were living in the far northern parts of the county. Finally, it has been established that the prairie surrounding Hickory Point was referred to as Horseshoe Prairie due to its ∩ shape prior to 1846.

The Hickory Point community was referred to as Carman Run during its formative years, being named after a small creek in the immediate area, and there are a handful of records where this name can be found. The creek, in turn, was named in honor of Morris Carman, a pioneer of the Hickory Point area.

The first individuals to receive deeded land in the Hickory Point area, through federal land patents, included: Hail Bates, Benjamin Soal, and Silas Gregg on July 1, 1845; Josephus Gregg and Ezekiel Morrison on May 1, 1848; Charles McFarland, Joseph McFarland, and Hazard Sheffield on May 10, 1848; and George Washington Gregg on January 1, 1850. It is very likely that numerous individuals and families were residing in the Hickory Point area prior to the land being patented by the federal government.

Alfred Nichols opened a general store on the Porter County side of Hickory Point in 1844, but would later remove to Crown Point and Frank Wallace would operate the store for several years. Wallace is thought to have sold the business to a son of Matthew A. Carson. Competition with Boone Grove’s retailers and the fact that railroads failed to traverse through or near the community eventually led to Hickory Point’s slow demise shortly after the Civil War.

Henry A. Nichols, brother of Alfred Nichols, was appointed the first postmaster of Hickory Point on September 4, 1850. It is believed that the post office operated out of Alfred's general store. Henry was succeeded as postmaster by his older brother, Alfred Nichols, on June 11, 1853, and Alfred was replaced by his father, William A. Nichols, on May 6, 1854. Hamlin G. Porter was appointed the next postmaster of Hickory Point on August 14, 1856, followed by Daniel Cross on May 18, 1858.

The post office discontinued operations on August 16, 1858, but was reestablished on March 13, 1861, with Hamlin G. Porter again serving as postmaster. Hamlin would be followed by his daughter, Mary M. Porter, as postmistress on May 26, 1868; Hamlin had died on May 3,1868, and it is believed that Mary's appointment to the postmistress position was necessitated by her father's death. Mary would operate the post office until it was permanently closed on August 27, 1868.

Information published in Goodspeed and Blanchard's 1882 history of the counties of Lake and Porter provides some conflicting information regarding the establishment of the Hickory Point post office, and also indicates that the location of the post office moved between counties over time. Goodspeed and Blanchard write:

About 1845, a post office was established at Hickory Point, with Jeremy Hickson [Hixon] as Postmaster. He carried the mail from Crown Point for the proceeds of the office. A few years later, Henry Nichols took the office and kept it three years, when his father, William A. Nichols, took it into his care for two or three years. Up to this time, the office was kept just over the line in Winfield Township, Lake Co. Mr. [Hamlin G.] Porter next took the post office and removed it across the line into Porter Township, and was holding it at the time of his death, after which the office was discontinued.

This description suggests that the Hickory Point post office was established as a Lake County post office until removed into Porter County by Hamlin G. Porter.

Records of the United States Post Office Department indeed enumerate the Hickory Point post office as being in Lake County. However, this may very likely be in error since Alfred Nichol's general store was located just east of the county line in Porter County and the post office was in all likelihood located in his store when Alfred's brother Henry was appointed the community's first postmaster.

Additionally, contrary to what was published by Goodspeed and Blanchard, records of the Post Office Department do not indicate that a "Jeremy Hickson" ever served as Hickory Point's postmaster. However, a Jeremy Hixon appears in official records as being appointed postmaster of the Eagle Creek post office in Lake County on July 23, 1839, succeeding his son Lucas Hixon. Eagle Creek is located about three miles southwest of Hickory Point. The Eagle Creek post office was discontinued on August 16, 1842, more than eight years prior to the establishment of the post office at Hickory Point.

Collectively, this information suggests that residents of the Hickory Point community had to travel to the Eagle Creek post office in Lake County to receive their mail until August 16, 1842. Where Hickory Point residents collected their mail during the eight year period between the discontinuance of the Eagle Creek post office and the establishment of the Hickory Point post office is unknown.

News item concerning the location of Hickory Point.
Source: Porter County Vidette, July 15, 1875.

The Hickory Point School, also referred to as the Skinner School, was situated about three-quarters of a mile directly east of the Hickory Point community on land owned by Ezekiel Morrison. Its location was about one-quarter mile west of present day County Road 600 West along the south side of County Road 500 South. This school was erected in 1867 and was of wood frame construction. Somewhat ironically, Goodspeed and Blachard's 1882 history of Porter County stated that this school "is at present the poorest [condition] in the township."

Prior to 1867, it is believed that students from the Hickory Point community were taught at the Methodist Episcopal Church in that community. This church was constructed in 1844 by William A. Nichols and Reverend Jeremiah Early, a circuit-riding Methodist minister from Crown Point, was the first to preach regularly here. The church building, the first wood framed church built in Porter County, was still standing as late as 1873, but reportedly in a very derelict condition with no resident pastor.

Like most Midwestern frontier communities, agriculture was the predominant occupation of Hickory Point's pioneer settlers. Numerous grist mills were established in Porter County prior to 1860 to process farmers' grains. The nearest grist mill to Hickory Point was unlike others in the county, which were powered by waterwheels and erected adjacent to creeks. The grist mill serving the Hickory Point community was powered by wind.

Wilson's Windmill in the far northwest corner of Boone Township was located about three-quarters of a mile southeast of Hickory Point. Robert Wilson erected the large windmill in 1845 and served as the area farmers' miller. Wilson operated his grist mill for approximately two years and then sold it to his brother, Charles Wilson, who continued the grist milling business for about seven more years before dismantling the structure (circa 1855). The mill was located at about present day 610 South along the west side of Indiana State Road 2. The headwaters of Cobb Creek are located immediately east of the former site of the mill. The windmill appears on Abbot’s 1855 sectional map of Porter County.

Map showing general location of

the Hickory Point community. Also visible is

Robert Wilson's grist mill powered by wind.
Source: Abbot, 1855.

Porter County pioneer Isabella "Isabel" (Stewart) McKnight wrote about her family's migration to Hickory Point in 1851, which took place when she was nine years old:

AMONG my earliest recollections is our trip from Ohio to Indiana. We left Waynesburg, Stark Co., Ohio about the middle of October 1851 and traveled from there to Cleveland in a canal boat. The canal boat was used principally for transporting grain from one point to another and had a little cabin at one end which was fitted up for the women and children. The men must have had another apartment for the mules were kept in the other end and the center of the boat was used for the grain. The boat was drawn by mules. They walked on the bank of the canal and were attached to the boat by a large rope. Not a very swift way to travel. From Cleveland we went across Lake Erie to Detroit in a steam boat and from there across Michigan to Michigan City. There we put up at a hotel kept by a Mr. Shrieve who had moved from near the old Hazzard Sheffield farm. It rained continuously that night and the next day it was a problem how we were to get from there to Horseprairie or Hickory Point. Mr. Shrieve had to send a man to the farm he had left to get a load of corn so it was decided that we should go with him. The family of father, mother and four children together with our belongings were packed in the wagon, we started for our destination with the rain the day and night before and so much corduroy road it was not a very pleasant trip. At one place father was pitched off into the water. We stopped at a little town called Doorville for lunch and to feed the horses, went through Westville and arrived at Valparaiso at night. Put up at the Freemont House which stood where the Specht and Finney Store is now located. The next day, October 31, we arrived at Hickory Point. Stayed at Joseph McFarlands, a home for strangers until a log cabin 12 x 14 was vacated. We moved in and lived there for two years. If it was small we entertained strangers. At one time Mr. [John] McIntyre, wife [Rebecca (Carson) McIntyre] and two children stayed with us two weeks. I don't know how it ever was done, there was the trundle-bed of course.

McKnight writes that she attended school in the Methodist Episcopal Church, a church constructed by William Nichols at Hickory Point in the 1840s; her teacher was Mary Almira Cleveland, who would later marry William Augustus Winslow.

It appears that Hickory Point attracted an inordinate number of pioneers of Scottish or Ulster (i.e., Northern Ireland Protestant) origin or descent. For instance, individuals and families residing in the Hickory Point area with the surnames of Cadwell, Campbell, Carson, Dunn, Foster, Gregg, McCann, McDonough, McFarland, McGinley, McGinnis, McIntyre, McKay, McKnight, Stewart, and Wallace appear in federal census and other records prior to 1880.

A active burial ground called Hickory Point Cemetery once existed about one-half mile southwest of the community just beyond the county line in Lake County. Timothy H. Ball referred to the cemetery as an "Old Burial Ground" in his history of Lake County published in 1873. In 1958, the cemetery was described as "the most neglected cemetery in Northwest Indiana. Not a single grave-stone remains standing, and the once sacred spot is over-run by weeds and brambles and sinuous vines. Overhead the trees are matted together as if to hide the sacrilege, and the ground is damp and moldy."

Map showing portion of Lake County immediately west of Hickory
Point. Hickory Point Cemetery is visible at center of Section 33.
Source: Blanchard, 1874.

During the 1950s, a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) attempted to identify graves they could uncover at the Hickory Point Cemetery. In their enumeration they described the general condition of the cemetery as "There are two large pine trees, an undergrowth of blackberries bushes, sumac and brush trees." They also indicate that most of the burials at the cemetery had been moved about one and one-quarter mile northeast to the Salem Cemetery in Porter County's Porter Township.

The DAR does not provide a precise location or map of the Hickory Point Cemetery, instead describing it as "ninety feet by thirty feet, on the east side of the north-south road, and is at the turn to the north of the east-west road at the corner of the present Andy Nethery Farm, once owned by the Ward family.

The "north-south road" mentioned above is present day Union Street and the "east-west road" is East 145th Avenue. The cemetery is now contained in a 170-foot by 170-foot brushy woodlot, as marked on the Google Earth image provided below. Several pre-1900 death notices were published in local newspapers for Hickory Point residents, but the burial locations for many of these individuals cannot be found in cemetery enumerations. Thus, it is suspected that the remains of numerous pioneers are located in this "lost cemetery" in unmarked graves.

Locations of historic Hickory Point Cemetery
and the Hickory Point community.
Source: Google Earth.

The DAR was able to identify five individuals in the Hickory Grove cemetery and partially read the tombstones of three others:

• CARSON, M.A.; son of M. and N. Carson; died Oct. 29, 1863; aged 11 yrs. 9 mos. 19 da.
  CULVER, Aaron; died Nov. 22, 1958; aged 75 yrs.
• McFARLAND, ???; Dau of David and Mary McFarland; died Oct. 18, 1877; aged 3 yrs. 3 mos 7 da. (stone broken across name)
• NICHOLS, Joseph B.; son of William and P. Nichols; aged 4 yrs 6 mos 16 da. (also marker with J.B.N. on top)
• -- Pamela, wife of ?; (stone broken and gone; probably a Nichols since it is near those of the two Nichols children and their stones bear the initial "P" as mother.)
• -- Silas G.; son of William and P. Nichols; died Apr. 20, 1837; aged 5 yrs. 9 da. (also a headstone bearing the initials S.G.N.)
• WARD, Willie; son of A.B. and D. Ward; died Oct. 5, 1859; aged 12 da.
• -- W.B.; (headstone with only these initials; could be Ward since lot is nearby)

The DAR also found a headstone with the initials J.G., three bases with no headstones, and several broken fragments of grave markers.

Salem Cemetery, on mile northeast of Hickory Point.

Many Hickory Point pioneers are buried here. This

cemetery is not located in Palmer in Lake County.
Source: Collection of Steven R. Shook.

Many of Hickory Point's pioneers are interred in the Salem Cemetery, which is located about one mile northeast of the community and four and one-half miles directly north of Hebron. The cemetery’s founding is associated with the Salem Presbyterian Church, which was erected in 1848 by Ananias Freeman on one acre of land donated by Edmond Sheffield; the church and cemetery were adjacent to one another on the north side of present day County Road 350 South.

Assistance in establishing the Salem Presbyterian Church came from Reverend James Caldwell Brown of Valparaiso, a Presbyterian minister, who was also responsible for erecting the first Presbyterian church at the county seat. Brown would die at Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky, on July 14, 1862, while serving as a chaplain in the 48th Indiana Volunteer Regiment; the Chaplain Brown Post of the Grand Army of the Republic in Valparaiso was named in his honor.

George A. Gregg, a Presbyterian minister, was also likely instrumental in the early development of the Salem Presbyterian Church. He would later remove to Bellefontaine, Logan County, Ohio, where he was a minister at the Presbyterian Church in that community, but many of his children remained in Porter County.

Residents of Hickory Point and areas to the north, however, were predominantly Methodist and as the Presbyterian's use of the church began to wane the Methodists acquired the church property. The Salem Cemetery Association was formed in 1888. Prior to construction of the Salem Church, Sunday services were held in the home of Reverend Henry Augustine Humphrey in Lake County just across the county line from the Hickory Point community.

The first church was destroyed by fire on May 16, 1903, and was soon rebuilt at the same location immediately west of the cemetery. The second church was removed from the site on October 6, 1960. The current Salem United Methodist Church is located directly across County Road 350 South from its former site. The burial ground is occasionally referred to as the Salem Methodist Cemetery.

Newspaper item concerning the Methodist
Episcopal Church at Hickory Point.
Source: Porter County Vidette, October 24, 1874.

Northwest Indiana historian Timothy H. Ball indicates in his 1872 history of Lake County, Indiana, that a Methodist Episcopal Church was constructed at Hickory Point around 1844 and that it had become dilapidated by 1872. He also writes that "The pastor of the Covenanter Church in Porter county, also preaches at Hickory Point."

Members of the Covenanter faith were Scottish Presbyterians and strongly anti-Papist; the Covenanter's were instrumental in quelling the Jacobite Rising of 1689 in Scotland. The fact that a Covenanter pastor was preaching at Hickory Point makes sense given the large number of Scots living there.

It is unknown as to whom Ball is referring to as the "pastor of the Covenanter Church in Porter County," but it is known that only one such Covenanter congregation has ever existed in Porter County and it was located at The Corners (Hebron's former name). The congregants' church was called Bethlehem Church of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian, and it was organized on July 28, 1838, by a traveling pastor named Reverend Hannan.

Example of Hickory Point new items.
Source: Porter County Vidette, May 6, 1875.

Reverend Hannan circulated a petition and delivered it to the United States Post Office Department seeking the establishment of a post office to serve the community known as The Corners. The petition, if granted, also requested that the post office be named Hebron rather than The Corners.

The petition for a post office was approved and Wilson L. Blaine would be appointed the first postmaster of Hebron on December 30, 1843. Blaine also served as the Bethlehem Church of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian's first resident pastor (1839-1847) and he would rename the church the Associate Reformed Church of Hebron soon after the establishment of the post office. The use of The Corners as a name for the community rapidly disappeared with the establishment of the Hebron post office.

The most notable resident to have resided at Hickory Point is likely to have been Samuel S. McClure. McClure was born in Ireland and received his early schooling there. Upon the death of his father, McClure emigrated to America in June 1866 with his widowed mother Elizabeth and his three brothers. They landed at Quebec and then traveled to Indiana, arriving at Hebron on July 4th where Mrs. McClure had relatives.

During the winter of 1867, McClure would be introduced to American education at the Hickory Point School, which had been constructed earlier that year. In his 1913 autobiography, ghostwritten by a McClure's Magazine employee, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Willa Cather, the school is mentioned:

I went to the Hickory Point School, and my Irish speech afforded the boys there a great deal of amusement, and the crust was often so hard that we skated to school, over fields and fences. I was so fond of school that, if I had to work at home for part of the day, I would go all the way to school to get the last hour, from three to four, there.

When I was twelve years old and was still going to that school, I heard somewhere, for the first time in my life, that there was a kind of "arithmetic" in which letters were used instead of figures. I knew at once that I must somehow get hold of this. I asked the teacher, a young man [James E. Carson] who was then trying to work his way toward medical school; but, though he had heard of algebra, he had never studied it and had no text-book. There lived not far from us an ex-soldier named McGinley, and I had heard that his wife had been a school-teacher. I went to Mrs. McGinley to ask her advice, and she lent me an algebra. My brother John and I took up this book and went through it as fast as we could, working it out for ourselves and solved the problems as we came to them. We got so excited about it and talked about it so much that my stepfather [Thomas Simpson] said he thought he would like to study it, too. He would sit down with us in the evening and work at the problems. But after a little while his zeal flagged and he decided that he could get through the rest of his days without knowing algebra.

Samuel S. McClure would later attend Valparaiso High School, teach one term at the Babcock School in Liberty Township, serve as a printer's devil for the Porter County Vidette, and graduate from Knox College in Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois. While at Knox College, McClure founded the Western College Associated Press, which was a syndicated service that provided news for college publications located throughout the Midwest and western states.

Babcock School, circa 1910,  in Liberty Township, Porter County, Indiana.

Samuel S. McClure taught at this school for one term.
Source: Collection of Steven R. Shook.

After serving as editor of the Wheelman, a new monthly publication focused on the rapidly emerging activity and sport of bicycle riding, McClure founded McClure's Magazine in 1892, arguably one of the most influential magazines published in the United States during the turn of the century. The magazine was noted for its socio-political content and the high quality of its serialized novels-in-progress.

Ida M. Tarbell's 1902 articles in McClure's Magazine concerning the monopoly abuses of Standard Oil Company would eventually result in numerous Congressional hearings, lawsuits, and the breakup of that company. Ray Stannard Baker focused a series of articles in McClure's Magazine on the United States Steel Corporation and its conduct as a business. The magazine was known as the premier publisher of muckracking articles.

Cover of the November 1902 issue of McClure's Magazine. Ida M.

Tarbell's article concerning the history of the Standard Oil

Company eventually led to the breakup of that company.

In the area of published fiction, McClure was able attract numerous notable authors to publish their novels in his magazine before being published in book form; typically, a few chapters of a novel were published per issue of the magazine (serialized). Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Mark Twain were friends with McClure and published their work in his magazine. One has to wonder if McClure's education at the Hickory Point School influenced his ability to succeed later in life?

Photograph of Samuel S. McClure the
year he entered Valparaiso High School
Source: McClure, 1913.

The last significant historical event that seems to have occurred at Hickory Point was a political rally in support of Republican presidential candidate William McKinley on October 3, 1896. The rally attracted more than 1,500 farmers and a "hickory McKinley pole, 105 high" was raised in celebration. Accounts of the event were covered in newspapers throughout the Midwest. Former congressman Thomas Jefferson Wood, a life-long Democrat from Crown Point, Indiana, reportedly "astonished the crowd by making a Republican speech and announcing that he was for McKinley and the Republican ticket."

News item concerning huge rally at
Hickory Point and the raising of a McKinley pole.
Source: The Indianapolis Journal, October 5, 1896.

I conclude this history of Hickory Point with the "Pioneer Reminiscences of Mrs. Hanna Gibbs," which is contained in the unpublished files of the Federal Writers' Program housed at Indiana State University. Hannah J. Carson was born February 24, 1843, and would emigrate to Porter County with her parents, Irish-born Matthew J. Carson and his wife Margaret Jane (Knox) Carson, in March of 1863. Hannah would marry Harvey Gibbs. Her essay, thought to have been originally written in the early 1920s, provides a young woman's view of removing to Porter County and residing in Hickory Point area.

I came with my father's family to this state in the spring of 1863, during the civil war. We had to drive fifteen miles to Canton, Ohio, to take the train. We left there at 6:30, and traveled all night, crossing the line between the two states in the latter part of the night.

The first I saw of Indiana was somewhere about Plymouth. I think I looked out the window in the gray of the morning, and saw water, water, everywhere, and large trees growing in it. I wondered at the time what kind of a country we were getting into. I learned later it was the Kankakee river, then in flood.

I saw nothing else that I remember until we arrived in Valparaiso at 9:30 p.m. For some reason, the vehicles that were to have met us did not show up; but along about noon two lumber wagons arrived. The one that I and the rest of the children rode in had no seats of any kind. So, we sat in the bottom of the box as best we could.

The one my father and mother rode in had a seat I remember. My aunt, Mary McFarland, was along, but the only recollection I have of her was seeing her trudging along on foot. We arrived at my uncle's at Hickory Point that evening.

I remember the next morning. It was a beautiful March morning, the sun shining brightly. I went out and looked around. There was not a hill or a patch of timber anywhere in sight [This suggests any standing timber in the immediate area had been harvested by 1863]. I could see apparently for miles. The prairie chickens - plentiful then - were making their peculiar calls. They were something we had never seen before. I could see the Bates house, the same on that stands there now.

The only thing left of Hickory Point is a dwelling house and an abandoned schoolhouse. But at the time I knew it, it was different. It had a post office, kept by a man who worked at the tailoring trade. We had no railroad at that time, and our mail was brought from Valparaiso twice a week - something like the rural routes of the present day. The mail man stopped at Hickory Point, and then went on to Lowell. There was also a shoemaker, familiarly called "Uncle Phil," who worked at his trade. I have worn some of his shoes. I would like to see them compared with some of the young ladies' shoes of the present day. There was also a schoolhouse, and a Methodist church. I remember the first time I went to that church. Mrs. William Beattie, the mother of Joseph Beattie of Crown Point, came in to see if any of us would go. Well, I got ready and went with her.

There was also a brick building, ordinarily used as a store, but vacant at that time.

When my father sold his farm in Ohio, he did perhaps an unwise thing. He sold to a man who kept a small store in Malvern, and took the buyer's stock of goods in part payment on the farm. That is how we came to locate at Hickory Point. We moved into the brick building, using part of it as a dwelling house.

I waited on the store, sewed for the family, and later on taught school. There were six boys in the family, and it was a job to keep them covered. You could not get ready-made clothes for either boys or men. I used my first month's wages to buy a sewing machine. It was a little affair, and had to be attached to a table, something like the meat choppers of the present day. It was turned by a crank with the right hand, the left hand handling the goods.

We got lots of butter that first year. It was my business to work it all over, as it came in rolls, and pack it in 50-pound firkins [a wooden cask] for the Chicago markets. It had to be hauled to Valparaiso, as that was the nearest railroad. In the summer of '63, we had a Fourth of July celebration. J. Q. Benjamin had been teaching a singing school at the schoolhouse that spring, and we sang the familiar war songs. The celebration was held in a grove now owned by Jack Wright. John Cass, a lawyer, delivered the oration, and the families of the community furnished the dinner, which was set out on long tables. There was a large crowd, but everyone had a free dinner, and a good time.

My impression at that time was that the neighborhood was settled mostly by people who had known one another, or were related or had church affiliations.

Salem wa[s] the name of a prominent Presbyterian church at that time. It had attended the Sheffields, the Campbells, the Mutchlers, the Revves [Reeves], the Beebes, the Carmans, and three families of the name of Greggs, besides others that I did not know.

Asel Carman, the most prominent member of the church, enlisted in the army some time during 1864. He was killed in battle, and his body was buried in the South [Private Asal G. Carman was a member of Company E, 17th Indiana Infantry; he was killed in action at Selma, Dallas County, Alabama, on April 2, 1865]. Memorial services were held for him in the church. In the choir on that occasion were Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin, bass and soprano, and Mr. and Mrs. Loren Hixon [Mrs. Hixon is Hellen Martha (Lawrence) Hixon], as tenor and alto.

Mrs. Baker and her brother, Charles, of Hebron, one of the Carman family, and George Gregg, of Hebron, and Mrs. Flor Gregg are the only survivors felt in this part of the country.

The Covenanter church, as it was called, or the Reformed Presbyterian, was located about a mile north of the Salem church in a grove. It was attended by the McFarlands, the McKnights, the Youngs, the Bovards, and a number of families further north. There was quite a congregation. I have been there often. I was there when Mrs. James H. Love [Sallie B. (McKnight) Love], a babe in long clothes, was baptized in the faith of her fathers.

Hebron at that time was very small. I saw this schoolhouse they had then. It was a large log house, about where the vacant Presbyterian church now stands. I think the Methodist was the only church in Hebron at that time. But the Presbyterians had a church down close to where the graveyard is now. The Rev. Mr. [James Nelson] Buchanan, the pastor, lived close to it. The McKnights and the Stewarts belonged to it. We used to see them passing on a Sunday morning to attend.

People were loyal to their churches in those days than now, for the families had to drive at least eight miles to attend services.

Teaching school in those days was not what it is now. Three dollars a week in summer, and four in winter, was all I received. We had to board around. I had nothing to complain of at any place I boarded, and a few places were very pleasant. But I will mention just one.

I boarded a week at a place where there were a man and his wife and one little boy. They were nice people, I thought. The husband semmed [sic] to be very quiet. He had nothing to say.

I had a nice bedroom, a nice clean bed, and a father bed you would sink out of sight in. Well, the first night I was there I slept soundly and never woke until morning. Then I noticed there was a depression in the feather bed alongside of where I had slept. Well, I was puzzled, as I had seen no one, had heard no one. I had the same experience every morning, but on the last morning as I awoke the lady of the house was just getting up from alongside me. She may not have been as careful that morning as usual. I lay on the outside, and she had to climb over me. I learned later the old gentleman, her husband, was out of his mind.

The young people of those days had very good times, even if war was raging. They had parties quite often and enjoyed themselves as young people are wont to do.

I taught school at Dublin [near Leroy in Lake County's Winfield Township] the winter of '64 and '65.

Our farm was not yet fenced, nor was that of the James Loves, the Moses Henderson, or the Dave Wilsons. The McLaren place seemed to have been settled early, and was the only one after leaving the farm now owned by Andy Netherly [just west of the county line in Lake County] until you arrived at Dublin. James McKnight was getting out timber the winter of '64-'65 to fence his farm and build his log cabin in the following spring. There was a large log cabin where Ed. Howes' house stands, and Moses Phillips occupied a log house so low that even I had to stoop in going in at the front door. The two Gregg families also occupied log houses.

Everyone got along fine in those days. There is a great deal said these times about the high cost of living. Well, I can recall the prices of a few things in that time. I remember someone coming into our store to buy a pound of whey they called fine-cut chewing tobacco, to send to a friend in the army. That cost $1.50. I wore a calico dress that cost 40 cents a yard and it took ten yards to make it. At that time they wore crinoline and full skirts. We had a bolt of sheeting, yard-wide, that sold for 80 cents a yard. A small bunch of matches about an inch in diameter had a revenue stamp on it. I don't remember what it sold for. Coffee was almost impossible to get, and sugar was 25 cents a pound. Every one in those days made sorghum molasses. It was a great help to have your barrel of sorghum molasses. The first sauce I tasted in this state was made of wild crabapples, cooked in sorghum molasses.

The money at the time was green-backs, and it took two dollars and a half of them to get on[e] dollar in gold. Silver at that time was unknown. The change for anything less than a dollar was in paper of five, ten, twenty-five and fifty cents, in what was called scrip or shinplaster.

The women in those days had their fashions, just as now. They wore sky-scraper bonnets, and did their hair in what was called water falls.

The people in Indiana seemed more progressive than those farther east, except in the matter of education. The accommodations in the log houses of the settlers were rather primitive. The house, as a rule, consisted of only one room. If they needed a spare room, all they did was to hang a curtain from a tall frame, shutting a space off from the rest of the room.

The vehicles in those days were also very primitive. I don't think I ever saw a top buggy, and the cutters [winter sleighs] the boys sported were home made.

Well, in 1868 I was married, and in the spring of 1869 we moved to a place called Ward's Hill. The Pennsylvania railroad had been built in the summer of 1863. While living at Ward's Hill, we heard that a town was going to be built close to the John Ross farm. During the summer of 1869 we could see the store building going up. That was the first building erected in the town of what is now Leroy. I have been told that there was another before that, used for storing grain by a Crown Point firm.

Amos Edgerton was a man who built the store. He also put up a dwelling house for his family. He was the first resident of Leroy.

Source Material

Books
Baker, J. David. 1976. The Postal History of Indiana. Volume II. Louisville, Kentucky: Leonard H. Hartmann, Philatelic Bibliopole. 1,061 p. [see p. 953]

Ball, Timothy H. 1873. Lake County, Indiana, from 1834 to 1872. Chicago, Illinois: J. W. Goodspeed. 364 p. [see pp. 16, 92, 139, 180-181]

Ball, Timothy H. 1884. Lake County, Indiana, 1884: An Account of the Semi-Centennial Celebration of Lake County, September 3 and 4, with Papers and Other Interesting Records Prepared for this Volume. Crown Point, Indiana: Lake County Star. 488 p. [see pp. 193, 274, 277]

Ball, Timothy H. 1904. Encyclopedia of Genealogy and Biography of Lake County, Indiana, with a Compendium of History 1834-1904. Chicago, Illinois: The Lewis Publishing Company. 674 p. [see pp. 19-20, 134]

Braiden, Clara Vaile. 1913. Bryant Family History: Ancestry and Descendants of David Bryant (1756) of Springfield, N. J.; Washington Co., PA.; Knox Co., Ohio; and Wolf Lake, Noble Co. Ind. Chicago, Illinois: Clara Vaile Braiden. 258 p. [see pp. 55-56]

Federal Writers' Program, Works Progress Administration. 1936-1942. Porter County, Indiana. Indiana Writers' Program, Microfilm Reel No. 20, Folder, 231. Terre Haute, Indiana: Indiana State University, Cunningham Memorial Library. 1,193 p. [see p. 364, 400-407]

G. W. Hawes & Company. 1858. Indiana State Gazetteer and Business Directory for 1858 and 1859. Indianapolis, Indiana: G. W. Hawes and Company. 623 p. [see p. 122]

George A. Ogle & Company. 1921. Standard Atlas of Porter County, Indiana: Including a Plat Book of the Villages, Cities and Townships of the County. Chicago, Illinois: George A. Ogle & Company. 61 p. [see p. 30]

Goodspeed, Weston A., and Charles Blanchard. 1882. Counties of Porter and Lake, Indiana: Historical and Biographical. Chicago, Illinois: F. A. Battey & Company. 771 p. [see pp. 169, 225, 226, 327]

Hardesty, A. G. 1876. History of Porter County, Indiana. Valparaiso, Indiana: A. G. Hardesty. 90 p. [see pp. 24, 39]

Howat, William Frederick. 1915. A Standard History of Lake County, Indiana and the Calumet Region. Volume I. Chicago, Illinois: The Lewis Publishing Company. 471 p. [see pp. 78, 79]

Kalb, George L. 1900. History of the First Presbyterian Church of Bellefontaine, Ohio. Bellefontaine, Ohio: The Index Printing & Publishing Company. 278 p. [see pp. 37-38]

Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Volume I. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 357 p. [see pp. 171-172]

Lyon, Peter. 1963. Success Story: The Life and Times of S. S. McClure. New York, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.433 p. [see pp. 7-13]

McClure, S. S. 1914. My Autobiography. New York, New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company. 266 p. [ghost written by Willa Cather]

McKnight, Isabel Stewart. Circa 1917. Pioneer Life and Impressions. Publication location not provided: Mrs. R. E. Morris. 14 p.

Redfield & Logan. 1866. Redfield & Logan's Columbus & Indianapolis Central Railway Business Guide, and Western Gazetteer, of Indiana and Ohio, for 1866-67. Indianapolis, Indiana: Redfield & Logan. 347 p. [see p. 21]

Smith, John L. 1892. Indiana Methodism, A Series of Sketches and Incidents, Grave and Humorous Concerning Preachers and People of the West. Valparaiso, Indiana: John L. Smith. 482 p. [see p. 119]

Periodicals and Maps
Abbot, E. P. 1855. Sectional Map of Porter County, Indiana: Carefully Compiled from the United States Surveys. Cincinnati, Ohio: Gibson and Company. 1 p.

Blanchard, Rufus. 1874. Hardesty's Section Map of Lake Co. Indiana. Chicago, Illinois: Rufus Blanchard. 1 p.

Gordon, Leon M. 1951. Settlements in Northwestern Indiana, 1830-1860. Indiana Magazine of History 47(1):37-52. [see p. 45]

McClure, Samuel S. 1913. My Autobiography. McClure's Magazine 42(1):78-87. [ghostwritten by Willa Cather]
 
Newspapers (listed by date of publication)
Western Ranger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; May 17, 1848; Volume 4, Number 42, Page 3, Column 2. Column titled "Wool Carding and Cloth Dressing Establishment."

Practical Observer, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; December 25, 1855; Volume 3, Number 52, Page 4, Column 1. Column titled "Wind Flouring Mills."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; October 22, 1874; Volume 18, Number 43, Page 3, Column 3.

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; November 26, 1874; Volume 18, Number 48, Page 3, Column 5. Column titled Hebron Items."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; May 6, 1875; Volume 19, Number 18, Page 3, Column 5. column titled "Hickory Point Items."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; July 15, 1875; Volume 19, Number 28, Page 3, Column 6. column titled "Hickory Point Items."

Porter County Vidette, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; September 7, 1882; Volume 26, Number 36, Page 8, Column 1. column titled "The County. Hebron."

The Indianapolis Journal, Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana; October 5, 1896; Page 6, Column 7. column titled "Thomas J. Ward for McKinley."

The Chesterton Tribune, Chesterton, Porter County, Indiana; June 7, 1906; Volume 23, Number 10, Page 8, Column 3. Column titled "Hebron."

The Lake County Times, Hammond, Lake County, Indiana; August 22, 1913; Volume 8, Number 56, Page 6, Column 4. Column titled "Editor M'Clure Lived Near Here."

The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; August 18, 1936; Volume 10, Section 3, Pages 17-18." Column titled "Morgan High School History of Morgan Township: As Compiled by History Class and Instructors for The Vidette-Messenger."

The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; September 26, 1958; Volume 32, Number 70, Page 1, Column 4 and Page 6, Columns 3-4. Column titled "Hickory - Forgotten Community," by The Stroller [William Ormand Wallace]

The Vidette-Messenger, Valparaiso, Porter County, Indiana; December 19, 1958; Volume 32, Number 141, Page 1, Column 4 and Page 6, Columns 1-2. Column titled "Salem Viewed as Christmas Card Church," by The Stroller [William Ormand Wallace].

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